Florenci Clavé

(26 March 1936 - 1 August 1998, Spain)

Le Bras du Démon

Florenci Clavé was a Spanish comic artist, who was best-known for his work for the French magazines Pilote, Charlie Mensuel and Circus and his collaborations with Christian Godard and Dieter. Born in Barcelona as Florencia Jové Clavé, he started his career in comics with the Selecciones Ilustradas agency in Barcelona in 1953. He worked mainly for the British market, but during this period Clavé also drew for the Catalan children's magazine L'Infantil.

Story based on the Beatles song 'If I Fell' for Valentine (UK, 1964)

He settled in France around 1966, where he began an association with the publishing house Dargaud. For the publisher's magazine Pilote, he created war stories with the character 'Rémy Herphelin' in cooperation with François Gépral between 1966 and 1970. He subsequently made short stories under the title 'Les Dossiers du Fantastique' for the magazine until 1974, as well as western stories with Jean Alessandrini. He worked with scriptwriter Guy Vidal on short stories starring 'Ned Kelly' (short stories in 1974, 1975 and 1978), as well as the serials 'Les Innocents d'El Oro' (1977), 'L'Île aux Chiens' (1978), 'Charlie and Boys' (1983) and 'Sang d'Arménie' (1985).

Détendez–vous (Pilote, 1971)

During the 1970s, Clavé also worked for other French magazines, such as Charlie Mensuel ('L'Île des Pins' with Bouquillard), TV Gadget ('Méhée de la Touche' in 1971-1972) and Circus ( 'La Bande à Bonnot' in 1977, 'Les Dossiers de l'Archange' in 1987, both with Christian Godard).

La Bande à Bonnot

Clavé returned to his home country and settled in Madrid, where he worked for the publishing houses De La Torre ('Crónicas de la Illa Guerra Mundial', 1984), Bruguera (the Chester Himes adaptation 'Corre, hombre, corre' in 1985) and Semic ('El Cartero llama dos veces', 1987). He also did contributions to magazines like Cimoc ('La Guerra Civil Española' in 1986 and 'Alias Lázaro' in 1991), El Papus ('Scanner') and Comix Internacional.

He remained active for the French market however, working with Christian Godard on 'Les Chroniques du Temps de la Vallée des Ghlomes' (Le Vaisseau d'Argent, 1990), a series previously drawn by Julio Ribera , and two book of the fantasy series 'Le Bras du Démon' for Soleil in 1996 and 1997. For the publishing house Vents d'Ouest, he released three books in the series 'Voyages en Amertume' with scenarist Dieter between 1992 and 1994, as well as the detective thriller in direct colors 'Crimes d'Art - Opéra' in 1995. He subsequently contributed to Fluide Glacial magazine and several collective projects published by Les Humanoïdes Associés. He was the older brother of Spanish comic artist Montse Clavé.